


Halloween Fic 2019 (WT'19 No.3, No13, AltNo.4 & AltNo.6)

by TheHirsch



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Gen, Halloween, Halloween story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-12-28 15:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21139034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHirsch/pseuds/TheHirsch
Summary: Alpha and Joan go to a Halloween party, the same night Alpha mysteriously disappears and Joan and Tamara are trying to find out what happened and how to get her back.





	1. Happy Halloween

**Author's Note:**

> Beta work was done by friend Janora.

-2256, San Francisco Bay, Earth-

“... and this is why we are still in conflict with the Klingons. And that’s it, ladies and gentlemen. Have a nice day.” The professor finished and turned off the projector, followed by the noise of cadets raising from their chairs.  
Joan took the PADD and put it into her small bag. As her view rose again, she noticed a red uniform standing next to her desk. She needn’t see the face of that person to know who it was. Alpha. The number one reason why she even sat in this history class.  
“So tell me, dearest Joan, are you going with me to this party or not?” Alpha asked with a huge smile.  
There was a reason why Joan wanted to get another roommate. Alpha was annoying sometimes but over the first year, Joan had started to care about her. Alpha was seven years younger than her and with seventeen years still a child. And her older friends dragged her into dangerous situations very often. So Joan stayed roommates with Alpha and who coaxed her to take history as well.  
“Tell you now? I told you I need time!” Joan was annoyed and tried not to lose her shit. This conversation was heading in an unpleasant direction.  
“‘I’ll tell you after courses today,’ you said. So, I’m listening.”  
Joan rose from her chair to be on eye level with Alpha “I already told you. I’m a doctor, I’m busy.”  
“But that’s just because you volunteered for medical service since it looks good in your CV.” Alpha crossed her arms in front of her chest. The smile disappeared from her face.  
Joan started walking towards the doors. “Well, tell me the reasons why I should go to this party. Go, convince me!”  
“See, you seem to like isolation and I feel like you are not happy with it. If you come with me you will finally be part of my group, the cool people on this campus. And I promise that I won’t drink too much. Also, I will help you with your Halloween costume.”  
The pair were leaving the building. Joan was walking so fast that Alpha had a hard time trying to keep up with her.  
“Alright. I’ll go with you but only if you stop bothering me with this thing.” Joan headed the Starfleet Medical headquarters.  
“That's great and because it is already tomorrow, I’ll get you a costume. Where are you going, by the way?”  
“You better don’t, I already got something on my mind and I’m going to work. See you tonight.” Joan entered the building, leaving Alpha standing outside.

***

The following day, shortly after classes. Joan and Alpha started to get ready for the party. Alpha, who had spent several hours in the bathroom putting on makeup and fixing her hair, was wondering why Joan was not wearing the fluffy dress she had brought her. Joan was still lying on her bed and reading reports.  
“What about your costume?” asked Alpha as she returned, looking like a Disney-princess.  
“My costume is under the bed,” answered Joan, not looking away from the PADD. She was still in her bright red cadet uniform.  
“It’s good down there. But the party starts in half an hour and we need at least fifteen minutes to get there.”  
“I’m fine.” Joan still didn’t move.  
“If you think so.”  
Joan grabbed the big box under her bed and left the room to change.  
“And what exactly is this?” Alpha asked as she saw Joan’s new look.  
“I’m an engineer,” Joan answered bluntly.  
Alpha approached to take a closer look. Joan was wearing a red shirt with an operations badge, her sleeves showed the rank markings of a lieutenant, with it she wore dark grey pants and black boots. This uniform was standard on Starfleet vessels.  
“Oh my god. Is this a real one?” Alpha asked with an excited voice.  
“Maybe....” Joan didn’t want to disclose any further. Logan, her best friend had sent it to her, it was one of his uniforms.  
“Where did you get it from?”  
“Let’s say, carefully, that I have my sources.” Joan bent over to take the belt to carry her communicator.  
“What do you want with that thing? We are going to have fun, there is no time for work and school!”  
“I have attendance. It is Friday and a holiday, they needed people.” Joan lifted an eyebrow.  
“Okay. Now give me your honest opinion.” Alpha spun around to show her dress.  
“Honestly, I think you look gorgeous in this dress. You look like Cinderella with your blonde curls and in this shade of blue. I’m jealous of your body. You can eat what you want and don’t gain weight.”  
“Well, thank you.” Alpha smiled softly. “And you already told me about the weight thing, I think you have to blame your genes for it.” She seriously tried to cheer Joan up. “Now, let’s go.”

***

In front of the club stood people in mostly weird costumes; drinking, talking and laughing. Joan already regretted this decision. Inside the dance floor was cluttered with dancing people, loud thumping music played, mostly newest hits. Most people in here were already tipsy. Some of them were even able to talk to each other over the music.  
“Joan, you already know Tamara?” Alpha shouted in a voice nearly loud enough to still be heard over the music. She headed towards a group of girls all just a few years younger than Joan.  
“Yeah of course.” Joan smiled. “Hi.”  
“Well, this is Violet, Yasmine, Tai'ra and Rose.” Alpha introduced the others.  
“Hey, pleasure,” Joan said and looked at their costumes.  
“Okay, girls the first round is on me,” Tamara said.  
“What do you want?” Tamara asked and looked at Joan.  
The place was not the kind of place Joan wanted to be all day long but the girls seemed nice. It was too loud to her liking and it was hard to have a proper conversation.  
“Nothing.” Joan cleared her throat. “I'm on duty.”  
“Girls, listen to this,” Tamara smiled. “There’s someone married to her job.”  
The others started giggling.  
Joan already felt uncomfortable. The floor was sticky from spilt drinks. It was dark and loud, too many people in a small space, an accident waiting to happen. All in all, she tried to stay optimistic.

***

Luckily, after two hours of watching Alpha and her friends get drunk, a call freed her. Some first-year cadet had fallen out of a window on the second floor and had landed on a metal fence. And somehow was Joan the only casualty surgeon available. This case was not in her field of expertise but the two other doctors on duty where a psychiatrist and a neurosurgeon and the fence was not in the head. She even got a transport to be fast at work. The fire brigade had to get the boy with the part of the fence into the Starfleet medical headquarters. If they had pulled the fence out of him they would have killed him. Now it was on Joan to pull the iron out of his belly without killing him.

***

After Joan was done with work, two hours later, she decided to go back into the barracks instead of the party. She spent quite a time looking at herself in the mirror. Herself in a red shirt, she was not used of this on her, too familiar with the blue she had worn during her six-week internship on the Spacedock. But this red looked surprisingly good on her, still, this was the Joan from another universe, a universe where her dad was still alive. She was still not able to face all the open questions she had about him.  
She turned around, laid onto her bed and just looked at the ceiling. Her communicator rang. But no work, it was Alphas ID.  
“Hey, this is Tamara. I’m bringing Alpha home. It’s just one level but I’ll help her on the lift, stairs look risky.”  
“Okay, I’ll wait for her,” Joan replied. She stood up and left the room to wait for the lift.  
“Have a good night. Take care of her.” Tamara hung up presumably to give the comm back to Alpha.  
Joan just hoped that Alpha was not too drunk, Joan was already tired of caring about her personal patient. She sighed and watched the little display to see where the lift was. It came up without stopping. But as the lift arrived and opened, the cabin was empty. She had a bad feeling about this. This must some kind of a prank! She turned and ran down the stairs, seeing how Tamara left the building.  
“Tamara!” Joan yelled.  
Tamara froze and spun around. “Yeah?”  
“Are you kidding me? Where is Alpha?”  
“I thought she is up there with you? She entered the lift, as I said.”  
Joan did a quick move forward to grab Tamara’s wrist, who quickly pulled it back and shouted.  
“What the heck?” Tamara was confused and stressed.  
“Well, I don't know either where she is, I'm afraid. The cabin was completely empty. So where is she?”  
“Are you sure?”  
Tamara ran up the stairs looked around. Joan followed her.  
“She is not here. I swear,” Joan said. “What the hell is even going on? She disappeared.”  
“That can’t be maybe someone beamed her out of there? Then how do we find her?”  
“Follow me. I have an idea,” Joan said and headed down the stairs again. Joan left the building and went south at a fast pace. Tamara was right next to her.  
“We’ll go to the Medical headquarters. We can check there if she still is on the ground or not.”  
“What if she still hides somewhere?“  
“We'll find her then. As you probably know there the option for emergency transport and to do a transport you need good scanners. So we can check where she is.”


	2. Where is she?

Two minutes later, Tamara and Joan had reached the main building. She stopped at an unspectacular looking door and knocked.  
“Come in,” a male voice said.  
The two cadets entered the room the  
“Doctor Cormier, we need your help, sir,” Joan said. She was out of breath and sweating.  
The middle-aged man who sat behind the desk rose from his chair quickly, he knew her something was wrong. “What happened.”  
“My roommate is missing and I just want to be sure that she is not totally drunk and lays somewhere, sir,” Joan explained.  
“You ask me to violate her privacy, Weiss?”  
“Yes, sir, that's what it might seem like, but I assure you that there is no other way, we can’t find her.”  
“Did she was very drunk before?”  
“Yes, sir. She returned several times drunk from a party.”  
“So, just to clarify this for the protocol, Weiss. You suspect the case of a medical emergency.”  
“Yes, sir. I do.”  
“Okay. Does she have her com with her?” Dr Cormier asked and sat down again.  
“Yes, sir, she does,” Tamara answered the question for Joan.  
“Do you have to her comm ID?” He looked up to Joan.  
After Joan had told him the ID and he typed it in the computer but Doctor Cormier frowned as soon as he saw the results. “She is not on the Starfleet compound. Are you sure that is her ID.”  
“I am sure, sir.”  
He turned the display around to let Joan take a look at it. “If this is true, I'm afraid that I can't help you. Good luck with your search, I hope she is alright.”  
“Thank you, sir. For everything.” Joan gave him a nod.

***

“Now what is our next step? We can be sure now that she just disappeared. No one will believe us and it is almost midnight. “ said Joan as they left the hospital.  
“I definitely know someone who is still at his workplace and who would be very interested in this phenomenon.” Tamara lead her over the compound towards one of the buildings Joan didn’t know. It was one of the laboratory buildings. She stopped in front of one of the doors on the second floor. Tamara typed her entry-code into the console and the door opened.  
“Professor Renner!” Tamara called out.  
The room was like a computer-sciences lab. The only other person in the room was sitting on his desk chair and was lying on the desktop and looked like he was fallen asleep during work. A weird map was projected on the wall opposite of the door.  
Joan needed a few moments to recognise the map as a map of the campus and Starfleet headquarters.  
“Hey, Professor!”, said Tamara slightly louder and carefully touched his shoulder.  
Joan stood still at the door, not wanting to be in the way, she was not even supposed to be in this building.  
Professor Renner startled and looked up. “Miss Gerald,” he looked at her, scanning her with his eyes and froze as he saw her colourfully costume. “What are you wearing?”  
“It’s my costume, sir. I’m sorry to interrupt you but we need your help.”  
“We?” he spun around on his chair and noticed Joan. He looked at her, trying to figure out if they had met before.  
She knew him. It had been over a decade, the last time she had seen him. A soft “Mike” left her lips.  
The Professor who was still looking on her showed an expression of surprise. He wanted to ask something but Joan was faster.  
“Stars, you are Mike Renner, you worked with my dad, sir,” she said.  
“And you are?”  
“I’m Joan Weiss.” Joan forgot the ‘sir’.  
Mike rose from his chair.  
“Oh God, you are Markus’ little Johanna. I’m happy to see you in this uniform.”  
Just the way he had pronounced her name, he was indeed German. Of course, he had aged, his hair had gotten thinner on top of his head and his beard with the length of a centimetre was white now. The wrinkles around his eyes told Joan that he still was laughing a lot.  
“That’s my Halloween costume, sorry to disappoint you but I’m just member of Starfleet Medical,” Joan explained.  
“Doesn’t matter. I'm glad you joined Starfleet, anyway.” He extended his arm for a handshake and then pulled her into a hug.  
“So, how can I help you tonight?” he asked right after he was finished with hugging.  
“My roommate is missing. She disappeared from a closed lift. Tamara saw her enter the lift, It came up without stopping and as the doors opened the cabin was empty,” Joan explained.  
He nodded. “And why exactly are you sure that the girls are not just pranking you?”  
“Because I took her pulse.” Joan looked at Tamara. “We were in the medical headquarters her com which she had with her has left the ground ground. It was Tamara’s idea to talk to you,” Joan said and really hope that this problem was solved quickly because she was already tired.  
“Well let’s see.” Mike sat and started typing.  
Both Joan and Tamara looked onto the monitor, both of them were tense.  
“I am reading no form of transporter activity in the last four hours, meaning that the easiest solution is not true.”  
“Then scan for wormholes,” Tamara said.  
“I taught you well.” He changed the parameters. “Nothing.”  
“Space-Time- Events?” Tamara suggested.  
“Bingo!”  
“There is a parable shaped erupting across the whole campus and headquarters at exactly 22:05:34.”  
“Can you tell where it led?”  
“No. I can't.” Mike ran his hand through his hair.  
“Are there other events like this?” Joan asked.  
“Not since last midnight, that's when the cache is cleared,” Mike explained and plugged a medium into the port. He copied today's data.  
“There is nothing more I can do, I'm afraid. You two should sleep come back here tomorrow. Hopefully, I can treat you with good news.”

***

“Okay as it turns out one professor went missing and a young man the night before Halloween. We don't know if they have disappeared because of this anomaly but it would meet the pattern. It seems like it happens all twenty-four hours," Mike explained.  
“If Alpha really fell through this gap, her chances of survival are almost zero and every moment that passes it shrinks, Mike,” Joan wanted to approach this realistically.  
He nodded. “Yes, time is running against us.”  
“I totally agree but why is she allowed to call you ‘Mike’, sir?” Tamara asked.  
“’Cause I changed her diapers when she was small. I was so close to her father, I'm like family.”  
“I see.” Tamara understood that argument. “We need to send someone in there."

***

“Jesus, this was a bad idea,” said Joan as she walked past the Campus in her space-suit, carrying the helmet under her arm. People were stopping from time to time and staring at her. “I look like a fool.”  
“Think about Alpha,” said Tamara via the headset Joan was wearing, to remind her of the purpose.  
“Well...” Joan had reached her building. “Most likely I'm just picking up her dead body.”  
It was 21:58h, seven minutes until the anomaly would appear again. Joan stood in front of the lift.  
She ran over her face again with her gloved hand and put on her helmet. At the small display on her lower arm, she checked if all the readings were nominal and read them out to Mike and Tamara in the control room. For her survival, the most important was the structural integrity and the oxygen-flow into the helmet. She was nervous and excited at the same time when she pressed the button to call the lift. When she reached the point between her level and the ground Mike stopped the lift and they waited.  
They changed the communication to a subspace frequency and Joan started hoping that she was still in federation space when she landed on the other side.  
22:03 on the chronometer and she waited the longest two minutes of her life. But then it happened, the cabin of the lift looked like it was squeezed to a line, she had to remind herself to not hold her breath. Suddenly the floor beneath her feet was gone, so was gravity. The first thing she saw was black with little dots on it. Stars.


	3. Getting By

“I'm in space,” she murmured and started to use the thrusters to look around. She noticed the person floating over her head, he was pale and quite dead. “Wow,” Joan said, she sounded impressed. “I think I found Lieutenant Shramm. He is dead.”  
“Copied that, doc. What else do you see?” Mike Runner’s asked calm voice.  
“There is a planet close to me, it looks like class J and my hand covers it when my arm is extended. It looks sandy and has a thin atmosphere. I can see three companions, looks like trapped asteroids.” She paused for a moment and used the magnifying tool to look closer at one of the planet’s satellites. She kept describing her surroundings. “I see a space station, it's close to my location, maybe 3000 meters.” She tried to don't sound as excited as she was. She started scanning for signs of human life.  
“Great!” It was Tamara’s voice.  
“You can move towards it, but keep looking for things that might help to clarify your location,” Mike told Joan.  
“Yeah.” She started the trustees to move towards the station, this would take some time. “The star of the system is yellow. I think it has a stellar companion which is much smaller. “  
“Copied that,” Mike said and changed the search perimeters.  
The silence that followed was almost creepy. Thanks to the system of the suit she could hear her own breath accompanied by the sound of her blood flow through her ears.  
As she came closer she had a better look at the station. It was completely dark, floating dead and it looked old.  
“I think the station is out of service,” Joan reported and checked the readings of her limited scanner again.  
“That's good for us, so we are not interfering with anyone,” said Mike.  
“I'm getting a lot of static but there is definitely a human in there.” Joan started to go faster up.

***

After a few minutes, Joan had reached the station she used the trustees to slow herself down and to turn herself around so her feet were facing the station then she activated her magnetic boots.  
There were thousands if not millions of tiny holes in the outer hull it looked like they came from particle radiation. “Wow, this thing is ancient,” the doctor took a deep breath. “I'm looking for a way to get in.”  
Her boots were clicking as they released and locked again when she walked over the hull.  
Space had something special to it there was no up and now down, of course, her ‘down’ was the hull of the station.  
After a while, she had found a hatch. “Okay I have something that looks like a cargo hatch…” she tried to figure out how to open it.  
“Okay,” Mike told her that he had understood.  
She had to open the next door with physical strength again, without any power it was hard to move. The life-sign was close, Joan tensed up.  
The room was gigantic, it seemed like the main hangar. Joan activated her boots again to have more control over her movement and turned on the torch on her wrist to be able to control the beam of light a bit better.  
Only seconds later she had spotted Alpha. She was floating, curled up in the dark.  
In this room the oxygen level had dropped to thirteen percent, made sense considering Alpha was in here for more than forty-eight hours now. This percentage was already too low for a human organism to function perfectly, but it was not deadly.  
“I've got her,” she again turned off her boots and kicked herself off the floor to float towards her. “Alpha! Can you hear me?”  
“You are late, doc,” Alpha answered and moved a bit.  
Typical, Joan thought. She could hear Tamara laugh, she must have heard Alpha.  
“Oh God, I'm glad it's you. It is fucking spooky here.” Alpha still wore the long volumes dress, she looked tired and a bit pale. Little bubbles of liquid were floating around presumably Alphas sweat, tears and urine.  
Joan ran her medical tricorder over her. “She is dehydrated, hypothermic and a little hypoxic,” Joan reported to the ‘mission control’.  
“See how you can fix this,” said Mike.  
“I will,” Joan replied. She turned to Alpha. And took off her backpack, carefully to don't get caught up in the tube that ran from the upper half of it to the backpack to her helmet. And got out the water she had with her it was in a container that was like a water skin made out of plastic, with a little tube so one theoretically could connect it to the helmet. It was also quite useful to don't spill anything in the weightlessness.  
She handed it to Alpha. “Drink, please don't let anything get out.”  
Alpha grabbed it and drank, almost greedily. Meanwhile, Joan curled up to reach her lower left leg, where she kept a small respirator for emergencies like a damaged suit.  
Joan was thinking of a way to warm Alpha up a bit. She would search the station for something later,  
Alpha was done with drinking and Joan put the water-skin back into her backpack and handed her the respirator.  
Before Alpha put it in she spoke again. “Be careful Joan, I think there is someone else on the station. I heard them scream.”  
A chill ran down Joan’s spine. “Them as in singular or plural?”  
Alpha took a deep breath through the respirator before answering: “Singular, I think.” Alpha seemed surprisingly collected, giving the circumstances. Maybe she was just glad to not be helpless and alone anymore.  
Joan almost unnoticeable shrugged. “I'll search for them,” she said to Tamara. “Maybe it is the male cadet that went missing the night before Halloween.”  
“I agree,” Mike said via comms. “But make sure Alpha is safe first.”  
“Yeah,” Joan said to Mike and then looked at Alpha. “Take my hand.”  
Alpha did not hesitate and took it. She braced for any movement.  
Carefully, Joan activated the thrusters again to get herself back to the ground, where she turned on her boots again. She was holding Alpha’s hands in her hands, through her gloves she couldn’t feel how cold they were. Alpha was squeezing Joan’s hands, holding on while she floated in front of her and close to the ground.  
Joan let the light of her torch wander around in the hangar. “They must have EV suits here…,” Joan murmured.  
Alpha took out her respirator in order to talk. “Not in this room. I lit a light-signal I found and looked for suits. I don't like being cold.”  
“I'm sure we'll find something.” Joan tried to sound as optimistic as possible. Joan started walking carefully taking Alpha with her. At the walls, there were a few closets with things people had left behind. She found a meter of thin rope that still seemed durable. She bound it around Alphas shoulders and tied a Flemish loop into the other end to hook her suit’s safety tether into it. That way Alpha wouldn't float away and they won't lose each other.  
“Mike, do you got any news on our location?” Joan asked the two back on Earth. The most devastating thought was that they didn’t know where they were and how they could get back to San Francisco.  
“It's still running it has to check hundreds of systems,” he answered.  
Joan was walking through one of the dark corridors, hoping to find something she could utilise.  
Alpha had grabbed her shoulders and was dragged along by her. Joan could hear Alpha breathe. Another drip of sweat loosened from Joan’s face and was now floating in her helmet, dangerously close to her eye.  
Joan turned left and opened a door manually, this cargo bay was not as empty as the one she came in through. She started opening boxes. At least after a while, she had a bunch of blankets. She took one and cut a hole into the middle to transform it into an improvised poncho. Alpha was too cold to complain about ‘the looks’.  
Joan, on the other hand, was feeling hot, the thrill of the situation mixing in with the physical challenges of moving in weightlessness. She lowered the temperature in her suit. While using the display at her wrist she also saw that the oxygen reserve was down to 97 percent.  
“We should save air,” she said to both Alpha and the two on earth. “I'll go without my helmet and set an alarm to when we oxygen in the environment should drop below 19 percent.”  
“Yeah, but keep an eye on the readings. No unnecessary risks,” said Mike.  
Joan tapped on her pad and then unlocked the helmet with a hissing the surrounding air surrounded her face, she took it off. Finally, the droplet of sweat floated away from her eyes. The air in here was cold and bilgy, and admittedly the helmet had given her the feeling of privacy and safety in this unknown potentially dangerous environment. But she was not sure for how long they would have to stay out here, how long it would take until they could get home.  
“Jo, you said you were in the hangar, right?“ Mike said. It sounded like he had an idea.  
“Yeah?”  
“Were there any ships left?”  
“Yes, one. About shuttle-size. What are you thinking?”  
“I thought you can't bring the station back online, with gravity and environmental systems, it’s just too complicated and a huge mess. But what if you try to get one of the ships running, it would be safe for Alpha and you could start looking for the other cadet.”  
“Great, only problem is that I usually fix organic things. And Alpha is a historian.” she picked up the blankets and headed to the hanger again. Alpha let herself be dragged along by Joan.  
“If you are half of the Joan I know, you can do it with my instructions.” Mike tried to sound positive. He knew it was the best chance they got.  
“Okay, thanks for believing in me. I guess I don't have much of a choice.”  
As they came closer she put her helmet back on,  
Joan was heading towards the ship. “Let's just hope it is similar to our systems.” She frowned. “Okay, the door is open.” Joan took out her tricorder again. She carefully turned around to look after Alpha, who was just staring at her.  
“I want to see my mummy and daddy,” Alpha whispered.  
Joan looked around, something was missing. “Alpha, where did you put the respirator?”  
“Alligators are evil,” Alpha answered.  
“Terrific. She is delirious.” Joan felt how for a brief moment she was about to panic.  
Alpha started to kick and punch around herself. She could hurt Joan and herself. Joan had to do something.  
Joan loosened the second end of her safety tether and tied it around one of the parking legs of the ship. To bring distance between herself and Alpha, while she got her kit out.  
“I'm going to drug her…” Joan announced. She gave her roommate a hypo, who fell asleep only a few seconds. Then she quickly went on to search the respirator.  
Almost two minutes later she had finally found it, floating in the hallway. She used her thrusters to get faster to get back to the hangar.  
She checked on Alpha and gave the respirator back to her before she went to have a look at the ship. She had to focus now.  
“I hope I don't kill her when I open the hatch.”  
“No worries, I think everyone builds double door systems into their spaceships, also you know the vacuum is not as deadly as you might think. Thrust in your skills, even if she gets sucked out, you are there and you can help her,” Mike said.  
“Thanks. Okay, it looks like there are four levers, I have to pull them order to unlock the door.”  
Tamara and Mike could hear that Joan was physically working, the levers were a bit hard to move, which was perfectly normal since they hadn’t been used in a long time.  
Joan felt like a drip of sweat ran down her face, it was now floating as a little bubble inside her helmet. the helmet stopped her from getting rid of it, right, she thought. The glass of her helmet was slightly fogged at the edges. Thankfully it didn’t keep her from seeing properly. It seemed the station was spinning slightly around because all of a sudden the system's star was glaring into her face. She sighed and pushed down the sun visor. The last lever was a bit easier to move, carefully she pulled it down. Then she pulled the hatch open, breathing hard she braced herself for what night come shooting towards her, along with the air trapped inside the lock. But nothing big or dangerous came at her once she pulled the hatch open, only a small ring washer came flying past her.  
She opened the hatch even further and climbed inside. She closed the hatch behind her and locked it.  
“I'm in the airlock,” Joan reported to Mike and Tamara once she actually was inside.  
The airlock was small, maybe with a volume of four cubic meters— she could open the other hatch without any risk, even though the repressurising systems were offline. Joan closed the hatch behind her and triple-checked if it had closed properly.  
“Be careful, buddy,” Tamara said. She wished she could be there with her.  
“Aye. I’m trying,” Joan replied as she opened the second hatch.  
There was definitely an atmosphere in here because she heard the air hiss. Joan got out her tricorder from the pocket at her belt to see where she had to go. She turned on her headlamp in order to see anything. She seemed to be in a cargo bay of some sorts. “I'm now heading towards the human bio-sign. While I do so we should find out why I didn't appear inside the station as well.”  
Joan kept following the readings of her scanner. It was dark around her, she could hear the sound of her boots attaching and detaching to the floor, nothing else. Spooky, she thought. She kept going until she reached an open door. She deactivated her boots to kick herself off the wall and floor across the room, it looked like a small cargo bay there were not much left, just empty shelves and containers that looked like there were made of some kind of plastic substitute.  
The Scanner told her that the atmosphere was indeed oxygen-nitrogen. One could survive here but it was not optimal.  
“The station is in an orbit about the planet and it moves, you appear on the same spot every time but sometimes there is a station and sometimes not,” Mike explained.  
“Makes sense,” Joan said.  
Next to the door, she saw some text for the first time. “I am definitely not in a space station of the Federation. I just saw some writing, it looks extraterrestrial. I have never seen those kinds of characters before.”  
“Noted,” Tamara said.  
“Please don't tell me that I'm in the Gamma Quadrant,” Joan added. She kept her boots deactivated and floated out into the hallway, moving closer to the signal. She had always liked the thrill zero-g gave her, but right now she could not enjoy it.  
The life-sign on her scanner disappeared and reappeared for a second. The static was still there and a lot stronger now. “I wonder where all the static comes from, there has to be an explanation,” she said quietly.  
“Maybe there is some kind of radiation that messes with your sensors. I would recommend that you keep your helmet on,” Mike suggested.  
Joan nodded, then realised that he couldn’t see her. “Yeah.”


	4. The Look In The Mirror

“Okay. Mike, let’s do this. Where do I start?” Joan asked.  
“See if you can find the main switch. It's usually big and hidden behind a small door or cover.”  
“Copied that.” She started to look around where the engines were for something that could be meeting the description.  
“All the labelling is in a language I didn't see before, though I think it is a different language from the one on the station… ”  
“Don't worry. Trust your intuition and maybe try all of them. No power, nothing bad can happen... “  
“Famous last words,” Joan grumbled, she tried to focus.  
“Just imagine you are in a gigantic washing machine.” He was referencing one of Joan’s childhood projects, Joan had wanted to take apart an old washing machine and her dad had gotten her a set of tools for it.  
Joan chuckled. “You remember?” She felt sadness coming up.  
“Of course I do. I think your mum never knew…”  
‘Nope, not to this day.” Joan laughed. And pulled the fourteenth switch that looked like it could be the one. With a bright flash the electronics, displays and lights went on.  
“Let there be light,” she said, glad. But after just a few seconds she stood in the dark again. Only a few of the “... and we are down to auxiliary power.”  
“Don't worry, maybe a cable was loose and the fuse went on. Basic systems should work with it. Maybe try to run a diagnosis programme. “  
“If I could understand the computer, I would totally do that.” Joan sat down in the pilot’s chair to try and understand what the console was trying to tell her. She was quiet for a minute or two. “They have English as an option. They must have established contact with us.”  
“First fix the gravity, ‘cause it will make stuff easier later on.”  
“Okay, it wants me to restore the main power,” she took off her helmet in order to drink something. “Let's find this lose cable and the melted fuse… “

***

After what felt like an eternity she had managed to turn main energy and the artificial gravity back on. Mike had walked her through everything. And it left them with the last but most important step, the environmental controls.  
Joan was kneeling in front of a console. Her helmet was sitting on the copilot's seat, tools were spread around her. She had removed her helmet because needed to fit her head into the small gap under the console in order to see what she was doing with her hands. She had shut the door to the rest of the station and was now trying to turn the ship into a habitable base.  
“Done, “ she exhaled and pulled her head out.  
“Well done, now reboot,” said Mike. Joan could hear how he was drinking something. She sat down and rebooted. “This should—”  
This should have been it. But no. The display on her wrist started to beep almost angrily. Within seconds the air was adapted to the parameters the last crew had entered into the system.  
“Fuck,” she groaned breathily and coughed hard. It was hitting fast, her strength was just enough too lean over and grab her helmet and put it on when she ready fell over and hit the ground hard.  
Darkness surrounded her.  
Until there was a tone. A really annoying tone and a voice that was calling her name. She carefully opened her eyes, her lungs were burning and her body felt sore.  
“I'm here, Mike,” she reported, coughing and panting. She tried to sit up. While she was realising what just had happened.  
“Johanna, Stars. You were out for several minutes I thought we lost you.”  
“With my last word being ‘fuck’? Hell no! Mike, I'm such an idiot, I almost made the washing machine kill me.” She had finally managed to sit down on her seat again.  
“You live. I'm happy I can't have a second Weiss K. I. A.”  
“I totally forgot to put the settings to what we humans need, and not… “ she looked at her pad. “...chlorines.”  
“I hope you are wearing your helmet now.” Mike sounded concerned.  
Joan coughed again. “I am. I put it on before I passed out.” She tried to actively slow her breathing.  
“Take your time, Jo,” Mike said.  
Time. She was crying and not just because of the irritation by the gases. “This shouldn’t have happened.”  
“Hey, Johanna listen to me. The joke with the vacuum early was not just because. I was trained in what I was doing and I did it for the hundredth time. But I made a mistake and I almost died. You are literally in the field, trying to get along just with me on the phone and the ship's own systems. It happens. It is human to make mistakes, next time you are smarter.”  
“Still, this could have been my last mistake. And Alpha…” She reached forward and changed the settings to the parameters of the earth's atmosphere, the temperature at 22°C and then leaned back into the seat.  
“I fixed it.” Her voice was rough and still had trouble breathing properly. She pushed the oxygen level inside her suit up to 30 percent. She hoped that this would ease her breathing  
“I need to look after Alpha,” she carefully stood up and headed towards the first door of the airlock, still silently cursing herself.  
Soon she had brought Alpha inside. She tried to make a bed for her out of the blankets from the cargo bay. Then she woke her, praying that she is a bit clearer in the head.  
She ran the tricorder over Alpha, it seemed like she was doing a lot better.  
Joan hesitated for a moment before running the sensor over her own body. She was afraid of what she could find. As expected there was water in her lungs, it was keeping her blood oxygen levels low. Thankfully, that was the worst of all the things that had happened to her body in that short time.  
She knew that she wouldn't die from it but it wouldn't be a nice time until she has recovered.  
“I could use a shot of tri-ox, “ she muttered. It was something that was very useful for people who almost suffocated or with damaged lungs. She didn’t want to medicate herself with anything stronger.  
“Joan,” she heard Mike again. “I have good news. We pinpointed your location. There is a federation ship that can reach you in a day. Honestly, do you think you can carry on till then?”  
“Yes,” she turned to Alpha and took her hands. “We are out of here soon. For now, I need to look after the guy, I hope I find him.”  
“Joan,” Mike raised, he sounded like he wanted to add an argument against it.  
“I can't let him die while I sit here and chill… He’s been here for three days now.” Joan got out a protein bar and gave it to Alpha to eat. She picked up the respirator and put it back where it belonged.  
“Alpha, do you still have your com?” Joan asked.  
Alpha reached into her bra and nodded.  
“Contact me if something happens or you start feeling funny.”  
“Aye aye, doc,” she laid the communicator next to her and leaned back against the wall of the ship, continuing to eat.  
Joan checked again if she had her medical kit and left the ship. She walked through the hangar towards the door she had opened previously. She was a bit slow, still feeling not right.  
“Mike, my scanner is picking up a lot of interference and his lifesign would be weak. Three days without water and proper air. It will be hard to find him.” She sounded concerned. She wanted to talk because the silence on the station was almost unbearable.  
“If you can't find him or if it is too late, don't blame yourself. Whoever created these space-time-events is the one responsible,” he said. He wished he could be there with her and encourage her. The situation was nagging on her, he could imagine. But how must have Alpha felt? Appearing in a place you don't know, in darkness while being tired and drunk.  
“Wait. You are saying someone made these?” she asked, he could hear the surprise and curiosity in her voice.  
“Yes, Tamara got data from other nights. She ran simulations based on all the data we have. It seems like the event is like a wave that travels east. She found the source of it. It is right here under the Starfleet compound, the problem is where we have nothing but rock on the plans. She is looking into that right now.”  
“That's… Interesting.”  
The light of Joan’s torch was lighting the end of the hallway, right and left of her the hallway was continuing.  
She turned left, trying to remember all the turns she took already. Her eyes wandered from the display of the tricorder to the hallway in front of her, back and forth.  
“How is breathing?” Mike asked. The incident just wouldn’t leave his head, although his medical knowledge was limited to the standard Starfleet training, he knew that she was not alright. The way she was breathing and talking, and the sound of her cough. She needed rest, he started regretting that he didn't go there instead of her.  
“To be honest? A bit uncomfortable but I’ll be fine.” Her breath was still shaky.  
Mike rubbed his forehead. “Look, you are aware that I have the responsibility for you and Alpha, Joan?”  
“Yes.”  
“And you see that I’m taking a huge risk when I let you look for the cadet, instead of ordering you to stay on the ship and rest.”  
“Yes, absolutely.”  
“Great, I’m trusting you to judge about your own physical state, please don’t overdo it. Understood?!”  
“Understood!” She realised how serious it was.  
“I’m giving you an hour. You need to save air. You will abort the mission and return to the ship if you don’t find him.”  
“Yes,” she answered. All of a sudden she felt a bit dizzy. But she managed to keep standing with the support of the wall, and after a second she could continue her way.  
Joan continued to follow the hall until she entered a room. She let the light wander around, the room was filled with tables and chairs in a weird design. There were figures along the walls to her left and right, life-sized, every one of them a member of a different species. As she came closer she realised that those individuals really had been real people once, someone had primed them so they wouldn't decompose. Some of the species were unknown to her, some she knew. They had a Klingon and a Romulan, even a Trill. She was so fascinated and freaked out at this moment that she didn’t notice the shadow that moved past her, behind her back.  
While she continued on her way through the room, she looked at the exhibits, or that's what she thought they were, keeping her eyes on her tricorder.  
All of a sudden someone grabbed her from behind. With one move they detached the oxygen-tube from Joan’s helmet. They must have been knowing what they were doing because this was, in fact, an action that was quite hard to perform, for safety reasons one had to turn it around, press down a knob and pull at the same time.  
Joan was pushed off her feet, the boots couldn’t keep her grounded as she was pushed through the room.  
Brightly lit by the lights inside their suit, the attacker appeared in her field view, as they spun her around, now grabbing Joan’s shoulders. Their face was surprisingly familiar and in it the same surprise that Joan was experiencing at the same time. Strains of long, frizzy hair were showing under the hood the attacker wore under their suit, else she looked exactly like Joan.  
“Who are you?!” they asked harshly grabbing Joan's upper arms even harder as they saw that she looked like them.  
Joan was paralysed from the shock, she could feel the seething in her lungs again and her heart racing inside her chest. “I— I— I’m—, “ she stuttered. She didn’t know how to form a proper sentence.  
The attacker, in a suit too, activated their magnetic boots, still holding Joan.  
Joan could see how their facial expression changed from the furious and disgusted, to a nicer one. Joan already relaxed when they had reattached the tube to her helmet but then they drew a knife.  
“I don’t care who you look alike. Answer my question or I’ll slice you up!” Their voice sounded bitter.  
“Joha— Johanna Weiss,” Joan stuttered trying to bring her breathing back under control and not to hyperventilate. Her voice was not more than a whisper, she was scared. “I’m no threat to you!”  
“Call me Jo,” they said and put the knife away. “You don’t look good.”  
Joan tried to don't show her fear to them, but she failed. She cramped up and coughed long and hard. They pushed her to the ground so Joan’s boots were locking again and she could stand right in front of them.  
“You need medical attention,” they purred.  
Joan nodded, she couldn’t deny that. “My supply is limited, I have to sit it though.”  
“I can help you, but first tell me: What’s your business here?”  
“I came to save two of my people, an anomaly brought us here.”  
They nodded, but they were not satisfied, yet. “Come with me and tell me more,” they noticed the symbol on Joan’s right shoulder plating. “You are a medic?”  
“I am a surgeon,” Joan answered briefly. She was starting to feel worse. She didn't know what to think of the person she just had met. They were different from her but still similar.  
“Tell me one thing though,” Joan said, her voice still cracking. “Why can’t I read your signature on my tricorder?”  
“Because Justus stole and modified alien technology, it scatters my bio-signs,” they explained.  
“Justus?” Joan asked.  
“Our brother,” they answered, surprised that she was asking.  
Our.  
“I don’t have a brother,” Joan replied drily. He didn’t survive birth, she added in her thoughts. Her mum had told her very late about him and never mentioned what had been his name.  
In her head she imagined how Jo and Justus where the typical pair of twins, with their own secret language and a perfect team. This made her a little sad, this was something she would never experience.  
“Tell me about him, please,” she was curious.  
Joan’s lookalike laughed. “He is a true daredevil, but hates spiders as hell. He’s a very skilled engineer, just like our dad was. He doesn’t really like to eat synthesised food and really can cook.”  
That sounded a lot like Logan, it was incredible.  
“Where is he?” Joan asked.  
“That’s my current crisis.” Jo swallowed so loud that Joan could hear it. “He is just gone.”  
“Did you ever thought about the option that you could be the one who is gone. I mean no offence but you clearly don’t belong here.”  
“I already thought that, too and I somehow know you are right. Just that I met you should be prove enough.” They actually seemed to be nice. “We are clearly the same person but this is not possible. We are not identical, one of us is wrong here, how exactly is hard to find out."  
“Where are we going?” Joan had finally got the courage to ask.  
“To my ship, I docked it onto the station, I hoped to find something useful here.” Jo slowed down to walk next to Joan. “Look, I'm sorry for attacking you like this earlier, I just was scared and I didn't know that you were sick..."  
Joan knew that they were lying. She scoffed what resulted in another cough. “Scared? You?”  
“Okay, no I was not scared. But I felt like you were a threat so I had to do something about it.”  
“You see, I value truth about everything else, I don’t know why but I can tell when you are lying. So don’t do it. Also, I’m not sick …”  
Jo shrugged. “Whatever. We are almost there.”


	5. The Cadet

The two had reached a part of the station that seemed to be different in structure from the parts Joan had been. In front of them was light cast on the hallway-floor. Jo had opened the station’s part of the airlock violently. The door of her ship was closed but a small window shone the light into the station. They opened the door and as Joan followed her she questioned her actions, what if they still were going to kill her?  
The door closed behind Jo and Joan. And Jo took off their helmet. The lighting aboard was not really bright maybe 80% of the lights on a Starfleet vessel. It seemed to be a small ship because right through an opened double-door Joan could see the cockpit that had enough space for four people, not more.  
“Have a seat,” they pointed towards the bench, that looked a bit like the extensible ones in Starfleet shuttles.  
“Moody…,” Joan said quietly as she looked around. She sat down, exhausted.  
“I’m a little photosensitive,” Jo explained while getting a case the inside of a cupboard. They turned around again and noticed that Joan was still wearing her helmet.  
“You can take it off, it’s safe,” they said and opened the case.  
Inside were basic medical supplies but with a few custom additions, the case itself was black, bigger than the standard medical kit and it had a white rod of Aesculapius on it.  
Joan hesitated for a second then she took off her helmet and watched Jo with interest.  
They took out a scanner, and read the display carefully.  
“You are a doctor, too?” Joan asked.  
“I was trained in the medical field, yes,” Jo replied.  
“... but?”  
“I was kicked out of the fleet and lost my license. I was stupid enough to study at the fleet and not a basic medical school,” they explained. Their scanner beeped and they read the results. “You were right, you ain’t sick. Rather injured. Although whatever you inhaled has left your system already it left a not minor amount of damage. You said that you didn’t have the medication you need, I think I can give you a shot of tri-ox to raise your lungs’ performance, this way you won’t need to waste any more oxygen.” Their gloved finger wandered over the little pods in her case, as if they were looking for something. They loaded a hypospray and pressed it against Joan’s neck.  
“Here.” They handed Joan the pot that contained two more shots. “If it should get worse again, please watch yourself and know your limits.” They looked concerned.  
Joan nodded. Behind Jo an electronic instrument bleeped, with a familiar sound.  
“I’m afraid, I need to go,” Jo said. “But first let me show how you will find your mate.”  
Joan nodded again.  
Jo picked up a PADD that was laying around. “Remember the last junction before you found the place with the dead aliens? Instead of going left, go right. Follow the hall, soon you will be near him so your scanner sees him clearly.”  
Joan stood up, she felt better already. There was this beep again. She put the little pod away where she could access it later. “Thank you very much,” she hugged her counterpart although the suits were kind of in the way.  
Jo was very surprised, they had not expected a hug.  
“Go find a way home and tell your brother how much you love him because I know you do,” she didn't know why but she was crying.  
“I will,” Jo let go of her. Their eyes were wet too.  
Joan turned around, grabbed her helmet, put it back on and left.

***

There was this bleep again. Joan Weiss was wrapped into complete darkness, instantly she reached for the torch on her left wrist and activated it, she was in the hallway of the space station again. She lightly coughed again. The only thing keeping her standing were her magnetic boots.  
“What happened?” she said and looked around. She activated her headlamp too.  
“You tell me,” it was Mike’s warm voice again.  
“I don’t know, did I say anything?”  
“No, you were not receiving, or passed out, as it seems.”  
“Weird,” she noticed where she was, right in front of her was the creepy hall, so she turned around.  
Again, she heard the beep. It was her scanner, it was right before shutting off due to inactivity.  
“I know where to find the cadet,” she told her dad's best friend.  
“Good. How are you holding up?”  
She looked on her scanner and scanned herself again. “My SaO2 is almost nominal again.”  
She had reached the junction and walked through the right hall this time.  
“Good,” Mike was relieved.  
Joan looked at the tricorder again and continued to scan for the cadet’s biosign.  
“Talk to me,” Mike demanded. He just wanted to make sure she really was alright.  
“Okay, I don't know what… “ Joan sounded insecure.  
“How is Lisa doing?”  
Joan laughed. Sure he would ask how her mum was. “Seriously I don't have a Status Quo. I'm avoiding her, only go home when she is at work, so I can see my grandparents. Especially Ida is very supportive.”  
“Why are you avoiding your mum? I thought you two were close...”  
“We were especially after dad died. You know that. It started to be fucked up when I applied for medical school, or especially when she found out that I also took Exobiology. I think that's when she realised what my plans were. She got really mad when I applied to the academy. She even sabotaged me a few times. She couldn't bear losing the next person to Starfleet. Her argument always was that dad did ground-based work in the end and it killed him and going to space is even more dangerous.“  
“Well, I understand that,” Mike said.  
“Thanks for your support,” Joan said sarcastically. She wanted to add something but went quiet.  
“Jo?”  
Her view rose from the tricorder’s display. “I have something.” Her steps paced up.  
“Specify,” he wanted more information.  
“A human lifesign, it is weak, they were right… “  
“They?”  
Joan didn't answer his question. “I need to hurry. “  
In the light of her torch, Joan saw something vague in the shadows, it was lying on the floor. As she came closer she saw it for sure, it was him.  
“Mike, I have him! “ Joan reported, but the excitement was not big.  
She had noticed the fact that he was not floating weightlessness, something held him grounded. She scooted down next the cadet.  
He was pale and had his eyes closed, but she felt his chest move.  
She carefully looked at him and soon as she had noticed the dark red bubbles floating around she was fully awake. The blood was not much but it worried her. She couldn't see his legs, they were just not there. His thigh ended about halfway in the wall, right inside it.  
“How is he?”, Mike asked.  
“He is alive but I don't see any chance to get him out of here.”  
She checked his legs or the absence of them again, then she got out her medical kit and ran the tricorder over him.  
“It seems like he got bugged into the wall when the anomaly transported him here. He is weak, if I leave him here he's dead in an hour but if I want to move him to the ship, I'm going to have to amputate his legs, I mean they are already technically. I have never seen anything like this. I don't think I can do it, the zero-g makes it extra hard to operate and this is no place you want your legs cut off.”  
Mike could hear the panic in her voice. “Johanna, listen to me, if you leave him there he will die, even if he won't survive the procedure you still did your best. If you want I can get a Starfleet doc in the line to instruct you?”  
She exhaled. “You are right I don't have any choice. Try to get Doctor Pury in the line, he truly has seen weird stuff in the field. Aren't you worried about getting your ass fried because of the fact that you allowed a cadet go through an anomaly to save her friend?”  
Mike laughed bitter. “You think my carrier is more important than a boy's life? I thought I knew you better. Joan.”  
“I'm sorry,” Joan said. Then she grabbed the respirator and gave it to her patient. She hoped that this would improve his status at least by a bit. At least one of his problems was covered. His luck that he was hypothermic, it helped to slow down brain damage due to the lack of oxygen. But it also would make it very hard for his body to clot blood, what truly was a problem.  
She took the thin metallic blanket she had found earlier and wrapped the cadet into it. She began to examine where exactly the legs ended. She would need to tourniquet his legs and then clamp the femoral artery and she wouldn't have the right tools to remove a leg, only a laser scalpel.  
The young man began to stir. He was about her age and had brown short hair, he looked a bit grey.  
As he regained consciousness he spat out the respirator. Joan caught it before it could drift away. She decided to use the chance to talk to him.  
“My name is Joan, I’m a doctor. I have the task to bring us home.”  
“I’m happy you found me,” he said very quietly. His weakness was hearable through his voice.  
“What’s your name?”  
“Justus,” the boy replied.  
Joan froze and paled.


End file.
